America elected the western industrialized world’s first non-white leader in 2008 in part to address an unprecedented global economic crisis brought on by eight years of a conservative administration that promoted unilateralism and deregulation of financial institutions to maintain dominance in a globalizing world. In the wake of that policy, the new administration secured legislation to regulate predatory banking practices that had contributed to consumer participation in the collapse of the country’s economic system.
The new banking regulations were due to go into effect in 2010 but the American public appeared unappeased by the far-off protections. Consumer confidence continued to plummet as unemployment rose to near 10 per cent nationwide, as widely reported by sources aggregated on Google News, among others.
Half-way into the new administration’s first year, a new consumer protection agency was proposed and was met with opposition by the conservative friends of bankers. A Commission was set up to investigate the causes of the crisis and America’s role in its dynamics, with the Commission’s head vowing to let -no stone go unturned- in identifying the actors and conditions that had led to a situation unseen since the Great Depression of the previous century.
The Commission’s report was to be released by the end of December. With the new curbs on banking practices not in effect until 2010, banks had the rest of the administration’s first year in which to pull out all stops to capitalize on consumer vulnerability.
Among other banking developments in 2009, interest rates on credit cards were hiked by up to 28 percent if payment was a day late. Promotional interest rates expired with no recourse but to accept higher rates or cancel accounts to lose credit flexibility. Accounts were cancelled for either nonuse or overuse and cards were disabled without prior notice for such reasons as security checks on suspicious card activity.
The upshot was the need to carry two or three cards to shop with confidence. Uncertainty no doubt contributed to the all important -consumer confidence- factor that continued to lag in the government’s efforts to stimulate the economy. On the consumer side, silent protest took the form of refusal to buy, sending the message that consumers were aware that unfairness had reached the stage of absurdity judged by common sense comparison with daily life. Rules of fair play are a staple of sports and form the basis for human relations. Violations lead to penalties, ousters, and in the personal realm, to divorces. The breadth of scenarios resulting from capricious applications of terms to agreements would not only be innumerable. They would include situations such as the following.
*Two people made a date for lunch. One decided not to show and decided it was not important to let the other know.
*Two people met for lunch at the invitation of one who stated his intention to pay. The purported host left once dessert was ordered.
*Three people agreed to meet for lunch. One was a minute late and was told the penalty was to pick up the entire tab.
*A club was established with a set amount for dues. The dues were raised without membership vote. Protestors were told to comply or abandon projects being carried out on the club’s behalf.
Further snapshots of life without a fair application of agreed-upon rules would demonstrate chaos, all the way back beyond humanity’s cave days and into the dark void before God made order in the universe. They would be a summary of the banking policies that had led the country into the need for an Obama.
Helen Fogarassy is a Hungarian-born American internationalist writer with a 20-year association to the United Nations. Her suspense novel, The Midas Maze, involves murderous hijinks in UN/US relations. Other books include The Light of a Destiny Dark, a novel about the Euro-American cultural gap and Mission Improbable: The World Community on a UN Compound in Somalia. All are available on web book sites. Visit her at www.helenfogarassy.com to get more.